Medicinal inorganic chemistry can exploit the unique properties of metal ions for the design of new drugs. The field of metal-based anticancer drugs was initiated by the platinum compound cisplatin, one of the leading agents in clinical use. Its importance is reflected by the fact that it is estimated that 50-70% of cancer patients are treated with metal-based drugs. However, cisplatin has some undesirable side effects and toxicities and, in addition, many solid tumors that initially respond to platinum-based therapy become resistant, and disease recurs. This has spurred chemists to employ different strategies in the development of new metal-based anticancer agents with different mechanisms of action.
Ruthenium compounds have been shown to have cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells. Some ruthenium complexes which have been shown to exhibit antitumor activity have been selected for clinical development as anticancer agents, specifically (H2im)[trans-RuCl4(imidazole)(DMSO)] (NAMI-A) and (H2ind)[trans-RuCl4(indazole)2] (KP1019). These compounds also seem to have anti-metastatic activity.
Certain nitridoosmium(VI) complexes are known.